Morgan12Oak wrote:I wouldn't worry about your J-term grade. It will likely not affect your GPA at all even if you score significantly below what you expect. Ex: if you are a B+ student and somehow score a B- in a 1 credit course it'll lower your GPA from a 3.3 to a 3.28. So even in the unlikely scenario where you are 2 grade deviations below your median, you're looking at a .02 difference so even with significant variation I would suspect that it is immaterial.

In all likelihood, you'd be looking at a .01-.02 variation which is probably as material as whether or not you clear your throat in an OGI interview or not.

I agree with this pretty much, any change is going to be minimal. Even at the extremes (say a 3.7 GPA and getting a B-) still only drops you .036. Having a B/B- on the transcript, even if it doesn't materially lower your GPA, might not be optimal, but it's not going to really impact things.

Don't take a J-Term as a 1L. You won't have all your grades back by then. Some of you will be at or near the top of your class and a GPA drop from getting a B+ could be harmful (i.e., could make the difference at the end of 1L year between grading on to law review).

Unless you're #25, and the B+ drops you to #26/27, it's just not going to make much difference.

There is really no good justification to take a J-term as a 1L. Most of the classes are offered every year and J-terms are usually guaranteed B+s. Vamedic is right. No one knows where they might stand by the time they sign up for J-term classes so any 1L could just as easily by #25 or #40. And even if you think you might be at the top of your class, a drop from the B+ will ruin your standing in the class which affects clerkships down the line. Overall, there really is no benefit to taking the risk and getting the B+.

Gerry B wrote:There is really no good justification to take a J-term as a 1L. Most of the classes are offered every year and J-terms are usually guaranteed B+s. Vamedic is right. No one knows where they might stand by the time they sign up for J-term classes so any 1L could just as easily by #25 or #40. And even if you think you might be at the top of your class, a drop from the B+ will ruin your standing in the class which affects clerkships down the line. Overall, there really is no benefit to taking the risk and getting the B+.

Technically (well, theoretically, at least) any given person is equally likely to be helped or hurt by a B+. Of course you can't know whether you'll be #25 and be knocked out of LR rankings by a J-Term B+. But there's an equal chance that B+ could be the difference between a 3.20 and a 3.17.

And LOL at #26 being a bad thing vis a vis #25. Many would argue that it is the best class ranking. It's a virtually guaranteed offer at a top firm, in your choice of city, without having to do LR.

The better reason for not doing J-Term as a 1L is that your winter break will only be ~3 weeks long, and during 1L you should take the time to recharge your batteries.

As someone mentioned, J-term is a good chance at getting a B+--meaning it's a GREAT idea for a 1L. The likelihood that your GPA will be so high that a 3.3 grade will hurt you is small enough for you not to worry about it. Only about 20 percent of the class; i.e 80 people, get grades that high. If you're below that, a B+ is an EXCELLENT grade and you will be very excited at the opportunity to get one. And as a 1L that can be VERY helpful.

I think all of these suggestions are theoretically correct, but I think the underlying idea is really that the 1 credit B+ will not affect your grades materially either way. To say that getting a B+ might knock your GPA down materially or raise your GPA and that you'd be ecstatic about it seems unlikely.

It really comes down to do you want to be here for one week earlier than you have to / is the J-term class interesting to you

Those questions are much more impactful towards whether you should take a J-term class rather than worrying about it bumping you down or your desire and strong chance to get that B+ as a 1L

BruceWayne wrote:As someone mentioned, J-term is a good chance at getting a B+--meaning it's a GREAT idea for a 1L. The likelihood that your GPA will be so high that a 3.3 grade will hurt you is small enough for you not to worry about it. Only about 20 percent of the class; i.e 80 people, get grades that high. If you're below that, a B+ is an EXCELLENT grade and you will be very excited at the opportunity to get one. And as a 1L that can be VERY helpful.

Don't agree with you very often, but I do here. I don't think a B+ would be that helpful to a below-median student (being 1 credit and all), but I feel like it'd be more helpful for them than harmful for someone that ends up with a 3.69 instead of a 3.7.

RVP11 wrote:The better reason for not doing J-Term as a 1L is that your winter break will only be ~3 weeks long, and during 1L you should take the time to recharge your batteries.

Alternatively, you could try out a winter pro bono project to give you more resume points.

The effect of a winter class on your GPA is probably going to be marginal. If I were you I'd only consider it if I needed more credits to graduate (perhaps because I planned to take 12 credits 1L spring and 2L fall), if I was really interested in the subject matter, or if it offered the opportunity to study abroad in Israel.

Just my opinion, there's way too much thinking going on in this thread about this. dailygrind has it right. Take it if your interested in the class or want more credits. The focus has been pretty heavy on the negative marginial effect that this could have on your grades, but I also knew stories of folks who had the opposite experience - the marginial effect worked in their favor and bumped them up to another quarter of the class. Felt I had to note that. *shrug*

What it's worth, I took a J-Term. Didn't hurt my grades and didn't mind the lost week because I liked the subject.

And since it was also brought up above, I recommend doing a Pro Bono project over Winter Break - its definitely worth more than a J-Term, especially if you're going the PI route.

I'm trying to make plans for spring break, and I know one of the journal tryout weekends is the first weekend of spring break. Of course I would like to take a longer break, but is it better to do the tryout that weekend rather than the weekend in February? I'm thinking that the February weekend would be more of a time crunch since we would have to prepare for classes over the weekend and have Monday morning classes. I would prefer to do the February weekend though if the shorter time period is not going to be a huge disadvantage.

Puttanesca wrote:I'm trying to make plans for spring break, and I know one of the journal tryout weekends is the first weekend of spring break. Of course I would like to take a longer break, but is it better to do the tryout that weekend rather than the weekend in February? I'm thinking that the February weekend would be more of a time crunch since we would have to prepare for classes over the weekend and have Monday morning classes. I would prefer to do the February weekend though if the shorter time period is not going to be a huge disadvantage.

If you're not totally devoted to Feb Club, do the February weekend and enjoy your longer spring break. Get ahead on your reading before that weekend, or just don't do it; it's a long time from exams so it's not a huge sacrifice.

This is all assuming you have sufficient incentive to pour your time into the journal tryout. Obviously, if you have 3.9+ after fall semester, or if you know you're merely an average or below-average writer, it makes a lot less sense to devote an entire weekend to something that has <1% chance of mattering.

BruceWayne wrote:As someone mentioned, J-term is a good chance at getting a B+--meaning it's a GREAT idea for a 1L. The likelihood that your GPA will be so high that a 3.3 grade will hurt you is small enough for you not to worry about it. Only about 20 percent of the class; i.e 80 people, get grades that high. If you're below that, a B+ is an EXCELLENT grade and you will be very excited at the opportunity to get one. And as a 1L that can be VERY helpful.

Don't agree with you very often, but I do here. I don't think a B+ would be that helpful to a below-median student (being 1 credit and all), but I feel like it'd be more helpful for them than harmful for someone that ends up with a 3.69 instead of a 3.7.

EXACTLY. Really J-Term can only end up helping you. If your GPA is in the 2.9-3.1 range getting a B+ during J-Term is going to be VERY helpful. If your GPA is in the 3.6-3.7 range it won't really matter either way.

Going to the journal issue that RVP mentioned. I do think that everyone with a GPA below a 3.8 or whatever it is that guarantees you law review should do journal tryouts. It's absolutely horrible, but when you're applying to secondary market firms it can help a lot. At many non top 14 schools you have to grade on to secondary journal and/or do all sorts of other difficult things to get on. This can come into your favor when you're competing against local schools in secondary markets. I've heard that it doesn't matter much in NYC/DC etc.

Journal tryouts is one of the biggest shams at UVA in my opinion. If they run it the same way it was done this year and you already know you aren't close to one of the best 15 writers, just do a complete half-hearted effort and turn it in. You probably won't get on a journal at first, but then the journals will come forward and basically ask you if you want to still be on a journal later when they fix their membership.

There is absolutely no difference in membership and no one will tell you second-chanced on. I would hope they fix this from last year, but I doubt it so this loophole will probably still exist.

I know a few people who did this and are on the same journals as me and my other peers who put forth a ton of effort.

Morgan12Oak wrote:Journal tryouts is one of the biggest shams at UVA in my opinion. If they run it the same way it was done this year and you already know you aren't close to one of the best 15 writers, just do a complete half-hearted effort and turn it in. You probably won't get on a journal at first, but then the journals will come forward and basically ask you if you want to still be on a journal later when they fix their membership.

There is absolutely no difference in membership and no one will tell you second-chanced on. I would hope they fix this from last year, but I doubt it so this loophole will probably still exist.

I know a few people who did this and are on the same journals as me and my other peers who put forth a ton of effort.

But if you put in a half-hearted effort, you might miss out on one of the prestigious secondary journals, like VJIL.

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There's a 7/11 just down the road with truly delectable hot dogs that they cook on those roller things. You can also get top-notch wine for like $5. My kind of party.